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These are Times Which Demand Your Attention

By Brett Gilbert

Every now and then, we post an article about the difficulties people are experiencing in the job market. These articles are not meant to scare students - or scare you a lot, at least - but are meant to motivate you to do everything you can to build your resume now, while in law school, so you are as prepared as you can be when you look for a post-graduate job.

In the most recent edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, in the Student Section, Steve Kolowich penned an article entitled Career Centers See More Students and Fewer Recruiters in Tight Job Market: Counselors advise seniors to make connections with alumni and be satisfied with offers that fall short of their dreams. While the article deals with undergraduate students, law students, too, should heed the message in it. A few snippets of the article are below:

At the university [New York University], on-campus recruiting is down 10 percent to 15 percent across the board from last year. Meanwhile, the average number of students attending one of the two-hour walk-in sessions held daily at the career center has soared from around 20 to almost 100. Ms. Steinfeld says her staff is routinely working 12-hour days, and she has asked the provost's office for additional staff to help deal with the extraordinarily high volume of students.

According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, these are common symptoms in the downturn.

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Networking, a tactic that centers have promoted for years, has become the watchword of recession-era career counseling. As the applicant pools deepen, career counselors are encouraging students to circumvent the regular channels by searching for side doors.

* * *

Adjusting Expectations

Despite their best efforts, career-center officials cannot fully curb the impact of a recession on their students' job prospects. So they're carefully warning students against unrealistic expectations.

"They've been in a seller's market, employers competing over them, rather than them competing among themselves for jobs," says Mr. Koc, the association researcher. "It's going to be something they'll have to adjust to."

To read the entire article, go here.

Full post as published by Touro Law Center Career Services Office on February 10, 2009 (boomark / email).